Wind Cave National Park got its name in 1881 when brothers Jesse and Tom Bingham stumbled across the South Dakota cave’s only known natural opening. As Jesse leaned over to inspect the discovery, the wind reportedly blew his hat off, hence the name “Wind Cave.”
Local tribes knew about Wind Cave long before the Bingham brothers found it. Lakota stories say it was a passageway to the spirit lodge where the earth “breathes inside,” said the National Park Service.
Wind Cave is a “breathing” or “barometric” cave, meaning the wind at the entrance is caused by a difference in pressure between the cave and the air outside. The NPS explain, “Because Wind Cave is so large and has a lot of space, it also has an air pressure system. That air pressure system is always working to be equal to the air pressure system on the surface. So if a high pressure system is on the surface air will be forced into the cave to create a high pressure system in the cave. When there is a low pressure system on the surface the high pressure in the cave forces air out so the cave will have a low pressure system also. This is referred to as cave breathing.”
